


Everything And Nothing

by squidgie



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Gen, M/M, Pre-Slash, SGA Saturday Prompt Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-23
Updated: 2013-05-23
Packaged: 2017-12-12 17:59:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/814383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/squidgie/pseuds/squidgie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John and Rodney find themselves offworld on a mission.  Late one night, they sit by the fire and talk about everything and nothing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Everything And Nothing

**Author's Note:**

> NOT BETAED! This is for the SGA Saturday Amnesty week, the "Use All The Prompts" challenge. Each of the prompts used is in **bold**. By my count, I've used every single prompt except for Weeks 39-41 "Anthro Quote" and Weeks 65-67 which was Comm Pictures. This could be considered pre-slash. Also, since this was supposed to be crack!fic, I almost wrote John  & Rodney as Eddie & Patsy from Absolutely Fabulous. However, this idea took root and wouldn't let me go. And it was surprisingly difficult to write...

Rodney pours himself another cup of **coffee** from the kettle Sheppard brought with them on their off-world expedition to **planet** PT7-Y14, putting it back on the fire-heated rocks when Sheppard shakes his head at having his own cup refilled.  He and Sheppard had been holed up in a cave for the last few days, staying out of the natives' lines of sight, while researching a nearby Ancient facility.  Though the stars had been out the first few nights, even allowing for a heated debate about what star formations resembled those from earth (and stopped Rodney mid- **word** when Sheppard made him **ascend** a nearby **bluff** at just past midnight to see a vivid section of space that reminded Rodney of pictures of the **Wolf Cave Nebula** from Earth), a sudden squall of weather came up from the West, **launching** a massive **rain** storm.  
  
The cave was barely tall enough for either man to **stand** in, so they take turns gathering the **driftwood-like** fuel they'd found earlier in their stay and stashed in the back of the cave, adding it to the fire whenever **smoke** overpowered the glowing **orange** embers.  As Rodney settles back down onto his sleeping-bag cushion, he sips at his coffee and stares at the flames as they burn through the dried wood.  "You ever miss **home**?" Rodney blurts out.  
  
Before he knows it, the **trace** of a **pout** crosses Sheppard's face at the thought of his biological family back on Earth.  "Home?" John asks, **daring** to let out a chuckle.  "Rodney," he says, "my family's not like yours.  Not like yours _at all_..."  
  
"Like _my_ parents were modeled after something in a Norman Rockwell painting," Rodney manages, watching John poke at the fire with a long stick.  He leans over, bumping John.  "So parents...  Nothing **new** there," he adds.  "What about your brother...  What was his **name** again?"  
  
"Dave," John says quietly.  "He was always the good one.  Mom and Dad...  They kinda showered him with **attention**.  I learned to hide - blend in - though I never really had to.  Not when Dave was around."  John steals Rodney's cup, taking a sip as he battles **memories** long buried.  
  
"So what, you weren't the **rebel** type back then?" Rodney asks, a bit of an impish smile on his face.  
  
 **Shaking** his head, John quietly says, "Naah... Just never good enough."    
  
At Rodney's questioning look, John adds, "Look, can we just drop it, okay?"  He feels a **pang** of guilt at Rodney's expression, but he ignores it, burying his feelings yet again.  Leaning back, he **props** himself up on his elbows and gets out of his boots, letting his feet warm next to the fire.  "Sorry," he says a few minutes later, blowing out a sigh.  
  
"What?  No..." Rodney says.  
  
John takes in the sight of his friend as the scientist stares into the fire.  He smiles at the shortly-cropped hair.  (Rodney had come to John months before on Atlantis and handed him a set of clippers, telling him to "Buzz it all off.  It's not like it's coming back **tomorrow** or anything...  I need to face reality - great **brain** , shitty hair genes.")  Rodney was a couple of weeks late for his usual trim, so his hair wasn't quite standing up in his usual buzzcut, and was currently **limned** by the orange flames making him appear to have a much fuller head of hair, a **trick** of the light.   
  
"Hey, did I ever tell you what happened when I took Ronon to my Dad's funeral?" John asks, poking Rodney with his big toe to garner the man's attention.  
  
Rodney **tears** his eyes from the dancing flames.  "Umm, no?"  
  
"We made quite the **splash** among the **gossipy** housewives," John admits.  "That's what the country club life is like; a never-ending **cycle** of  'You'll never guess who did what with who.'"  
  
John tosses the memories around his head until Rodney brings him back to reality with, " **Well**?"  
  
" **First** of all, they wanted to know how I'd managed to land someone like Ronon," John admits, shaking his head at the thought.  " _Then_ they were worried that they were going to get me kicked out of the military for violating 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell."  
  
"Seriously?" Rodney asks.  
  
"I know, right?" John says, leaning back up.  
  
"Like anyone would kick you out of the military for _that_ asinine policy," Rodney says.  
  
Laughing, John says, "I know...  Wait - what?"  He turns to Rodney.  " _I_ was talking about being with Ronon," he admits.  "You know, with a _guy_."  
  
"Yeah, so?" Rodney says.  "Look, it doesn't matter if you were with Ronon or Elizabeth or _anybody_.  But DADT...  That's just a stupid **rule**."  
  
John takes a deep, **controlling** breath, wondering if he's suddenly been sucked into another **dimension**.  He's been so careful with hiding his true self, he wonders if he's let himself get soft on Atlantis.  And if Rodney's noticed, he wonders who else may know.  "Seriously?" he asks, voice quiet.  
  
"John," Rodney says, then turns, and John can **sense** Rodney struggling with something.  "You're my friend.  My _best_ friend," Rodney says, looking into John's eyes.  "I...  Well, I never really had that many friends," he admits.  "It was kind of **rare** for me growing up to even have people my own age that knew my name."  
  
"C'mon, Rodney," John says, bumping the scientist's shoulder.  "It couldn't have been all _that_ bad..."  
  
"Well, I wasn't a **pariah** , no," Rodney says.  "But I never really got the hang of friends.  Not until you..."  Rodney steals a look, the hint of a smile parting his lips.  "I always had my face in a book or some computer **manual**."  He sighs, then turns his attention back to the fire.  "I just..."  
  
"Hey, it's okay," John manages, nudging Rodney in the leg.  "I know what it's like."  
  
Rodney gives John an incredulous look.  
  
" _Seriously_ ," John says.  "Besides a couple of drinking buddies on **base** during my enlisted days, I never really had that many friends, either.  And what friends I had by getting married, I lost in the divorce."  
  
"Wow," is all Rodney can respond with.  "Well," he says, knocking shoulders with John again.  "At least Pegasus has been good to us," he adds, John nodding in return.  
  
After a companionable silence, John finally says, "Did you see the **tattoo** Sergeant Dawson came back with?"  When Rodney shakes his head, John continues, "Earth.  Big tattoo of Earth on his chest.  Said he always wanted a reminder of what he had to go home to."  
  
"Huh," Rodney replies.  "You know, I don't think I could honestly decide on one thing to put on my body for the rest of my life.  Not anything..."  
  
"Not even your big crush?  The one you don't think anyone knows about?" John asks, an impish look on his face.  At Rodney's curious look, he says, "The one that's outlasted Katie.  Outlasted Keller..."  Before Rodney can guess, John says, "C'mon, McKay - **Ada Lovelace**?"  
  
Laughing, Rodney replies, "Are you serious?"  
  
John playfully cuts his eyes to Rodney and makes tsking noises.  "You've never seen it, I guess," John says, then goes back to poking the fire.  At Rodney's look, he adds, "The way you...  I don't know...light up when you get to talk about her.  The way your whole body language changes.  Seriously, Rodney; you don't have to be **psychic** to know you've got a **wicked** crush on Ada.  Everyone on Atlantis has known it since you got here."  
  
Blushing, Rodney stammers for a beat, then asks, "Look, can we change the subject?"  He sighs.  "Okay, okay, so I admit that I've had a bit of an obsession with Ada Lovelace since I was a kid.  I mean, how could you _not_?  And...  Well...  She _was_ the epitome of a perfect woman for me.  At least when I was still in school."  
  
"Is she why you got into science in the first place?" John asks, leaning back.  
  
Rodney contemplates the question as he unties the double **bow** of his laces and takes his own boots off, careful of the mud and dirt that cake the soles.  John's amazed that there's any **white** left on the man's socks at all, and chuffs out a laugh when he spots a big hole in Rodney's right sock.  "Actually," Rodney says, leaning back on his own elbows.  "It was my ninth grade science teacher; Mister Cornelius."  
  
"Really?" is all John can manage.  He didn't see that one coming.  
  
"Yeah...  See, he'd taken us all to MacMillian Space Center on the outskirts of Vancouver to see the planetarium, and it was one of the first times that I saw more than just one or two of us interested in science.  I mean, the majority of us all.  We all just wanted to be there, learn about the stars and where we came from.  And Mister Cornelius was there to help us."  
  
John nods.  "Sounds like a good guy," he says, letting his fingers dig through the dirt on the side of his mattress pad, producing multiple **geometric** shapes that he and Rodney take turns erasing, then redrawing.  
  
"Except he wasn't that good a teacher," Rodney says.  His lips turn down into a hesitant frown before he shakes his head, then runs a hand through his hair.    
  
John glances over, Rodney appearing lost in his memories until he starts again a few beats later.  "Here he was, this guy, with a **crowd** of students that appeared that they wanted to learn, for the first time that year.  He had his Masters **degree** in Childhood Development, specializing in teaching science to high schoolers.  He'd recently gotten tenure - even got an article published.  He was at the **zenith** of his career."  Looking over at John, Rodney adds, "And he blew it."  
  
Furrowing his brow, John asks, "How?"  
  
"I was like - I don't know...  ten or eleven years old at the time."  At John's look, he adds, "Remember, they kept advancing me in school.  Anyway, so just after we got settled in and he got up to introduce the lesson, somebody asked him how the ancient Chinese were able to view a **supernova** 2,000 years before."  
  
"So?"  
  
Sighing, Rodney continues.  "The guy...  One of the first people that got me interested in space, just said, 'I dunno kid.'  I mean really - what kind of answer is that?"  
  
"So how _did_ the Chinese manage to catch a supernova way back then?" John asks.  He leans over and steals Rodney's cup again.  Finding it empty, he leans up to grab the coffee off of the hot rocks, then fills the cup to the brim.  He sets it down, letting it cool.  
  
"That's just it.  He didn't know.  All these kids, most of us finally ready to learn, and he didn't freaking _know_."  Blowing out another sigh, Rodney adds, "So then the kids start asking _me_ because - you know - I was supposedly the brainiac and all."  
  
"So did _you_ know?" John asks.  
  
"Yeah...  Yeah, I did.  I was able to answer the question.  It pissed Cornelius off so much that he just went and sat down.  Told the projectionist to start the program.  Didn't talk to us for almost the rest of the field trip."  Using his index finger to make a point, Rodney adds, "It was then and there, that very day," he says, tapping the ground with each syllable to emphasize his point, "that I _knew_ I wanted to go into science and _never_ stop learning.  'I don't know' was just not good enough."  
  
Considering Rodney's admission over the silence in the cave, John just 'hmms' a bit.  "So the man who's supposed to be a **conduit** for learning ends up disappointing you, but also is the reason you went into science in the first place.  There's a kind of karmic balance to all that, I think..."  
  
"Hmm," Rodney says.  "John Sheppard, deep thinker.  Who'd a thunk it?" he adds with a wink.  
  
"Hey, I've been edumacated!" John says with as deep a twang as possible, their combined laughter coming through as a **babel** of voices as it tumbles across the walls of the cave, echoing back at them.  "But seriously," he adds, "I'm glad."  
  
"So since we're trading stories here," Rodney says, "how 'bout you tell me why you decided to come along?"  
  
John furrows up his brow in confusion.  "What, this mission-" he starts to ask.  
  
"No, no, no.  Atlantis," Rodney says, enunciating each syllable.  "Pegasus," he adds.  
  
Scratching the back of his head, John asks, "Would you believe me if I said it was the flip of a coin?"  
  
"You've _got_ to be kidding me," Rodney says, rolling his eyes.  At John's expression, he adds, "You mean to tell me that if that coin had flipped over to what - tails? - that I'd have been sent to Pegasus with some _other_ guy?  What the hell, John?"   
  
John is momentarily taken aback at Rodney's outburst, and surprised that Rodney seems genuinely pissed off at him.  "So, so, so," Rodney stutters, "if that coin had flipped to tails, I'd be here with some random guy who _wouldn't_ have my back every time we went to some crazy planet where there are **colonies** of **dragons**?  _Actual_ dragons?  Or, you know, planets with seventeen-feet tall gorillas with razor blades for fingernails?"  
  
"Yeah," John says dryly, "but think of it this way.  You got me, dinosaurs, dragons, exploding volcanoes, ten year old Princesses, Wraith, _and_ you got to venture into a deep, dark **tunnel** with a bunch of vampire-bugs to try and keep me from turning my ass into a bug."  John takes a sip of the coffee.  
  
"Your eyes," Rodney says, quietly.  
  
"My what?"   
  
Looking directly into John's eyes, Rodney says, "Your eyes - when you were changing - mutating.  That was the only time I was really scared..."  
  
"Scared?" John asks, his suddenly **arid** mouth fumbling over the word.  Rodney's tone worried him; he'd never really heard Rodney confess anything but arrogance and genius before.  Hearing him admit it unnerved him.  
  
"Hey, how 'bout we talk about something else, okay?" Rodney suggests.  
  
Nodding, John takes a sip of coffee, then puts the cup back down.  "Okay, so since my birthday's next, what are you getting me?  A new gun or a newly tricked out 'jumper?"  
  
Belting out a quick laugh, Rodney says, "I'm surprised you aren't asking for _both_!"  
  
"Hey now," John starts.  "I like Atlantis' **transportation** just fine.  It's just...  Can't I get a tricked out version with, like, laser cannons and RPG launchers on the outside?"  With a casual laugh, he adds, "I'd like us to be a _little_ more intimidating when we go up against the likes of the Genii again..."  
  
Rodney's the one who laughs next.  " _More_ intimidating?" he snorts.  "This from the man who plays with the safety on his P90 during routine trade negotiations?  And who taught Ronon to sneak up on enemies, thrust his sword in the air, and scream at the top of his lungs, 'This...Is... **Sparta**!"  
  
"You should have seen your face the first time he did that to you," John says, clutching his stomach as he laughs.  He turns to his side, gasping for breath as he laughs uncontrollably, hooting when Rodney whacks him on the arm.  "I'm...  I'm sorry, Rodney.  But that was _priceless_!"  
  
"Yeah, whatever..." Rodney mutters.  "I _will_ get you back one of these days, though.  There _will_ be **parity** on this subject."  He pokes John in the side as he finishes with, "Mark my words..."  
  
John continues to laugh as Rodney rolls his eyes, and plans to get even with the man - and soon.


End file.
